
BULLETIN 
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 



EDUCATIONAL REFORM AND 
A NEW CONSTITUTION 



ADDRESS DELIVERED BY 



EMMET O'NEAL 

Governor of Alabama 



BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF THE ALUMNI OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, AT TUSCA- 
LOOSA, JUNE 2, 1914. 



1914 

Brown Printing Co. 

Montgomery. 



BULLETIN 
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT 



EDUCATIONAL REFORM AND 
A NEW CONSTITUTION 



ADDRESS DELIVERED BY 
EMMET O'NEAL 

Governor of Alabama 



BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF THE ALUMNI OF THE 
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA, AT TUSCA- 
LOOSA, JUNE 2, 1914. 



1914 

Brown Printing Co. 

Montgomery. 






jyi 3 



r- 



o 



M R. To A ST M A ST K K : 

The annual banquet of this association is not *a mere social 
function where friendships are renewed and the pleasures 
of the festal-board enjoyed. More important than its social 
features, is the fact that it gathers together in annual council 
the friends of the L^niversity, to consider its interests, discuss 
its problems and promote its welfare. At these annual ban- 
quets, we renew our loyalty and increase our zeal in the 
service of our Alma Mater. Those who gather here are 
largely the leaders of educational thought in the State, and 
hence, these annual meetings constitute a potent force in mak- 
ing for progress and the formation of a sound opinion as to 
our educational conditions and needs. 

Under the wise administration of Dr. Denny, the University 
has made steady progress. During the past two years the 
enrollment of students has increased from three hundred and 
ninety to six hundred and eighteen, and considering the re- 
sources at his command no other American college is able to 
furnish a record more brilliant. Yet, as Dr. Denny truth- 
fully states "without additional teaching force and dormitories 
we have about reached the limit of our progress." In his 
admirable and masterly report, which will be presented to the 
Board of Trustees on tomorrow, Dr. Denny states that "I 
find the amount of money unconditionally appropriated to the 
University under fixed statutes materially smaller than is the 
case in any other tax-supported University in the nation." 
What, then, is the cause of this condition? Is there no rem- 
edy? Has the State reached the limit of its resources in 
providing for the needs of our higher institutions of learning? 
If so, further discussion would be unnecessary, but I am 
unable to reach such a conclusion. No State in the South 
possesses such unrivaled resources as Alabama. It is to-day 
a wealthy and prosperous commonwealth, and the possibilities 
of future development in industrial and agricultural fields are 
almost without limit. The conditions that exist then are not 



due to our poverty, but to causes which can be removed by 
just and wise legislation. 

The University of Alabama is the head of our educational 
institutions. It largely determines our educational standards 
and must continue to exercise a potent influence upon our 
educational progress. Where the resources of a State are so 
limited or meager that it cannot maintain both fundamental 
education and higher institutions of learning, then I concede 
that its first duty w^ould be to properly maintain that funda- 
mental or elementary education which aiTects the interest of 
all of its citizens. No one, however, will contend that Ala- 
bama with its wealth and resources is not able to properly 
maintain both elementary and secondary schools and higher 
institutions of learning. 

No State in the Union contributes more from its general 
taxation for elementary education than Alabama. Over sixty- 
nine per cent, of all the appropriations the common schools 
receive, comes from the State Treasury. If this was supple- 
mented by a system of local taxation, both county and school 
districts, encouraging both local initiative and effort and stim- 
ulating local pride, our elementary schools would at once 
commence a new era of progress and development. The pri- 
mary cause of the present educational conditions in Alabama 
is due to the fact that in their mistaken zeal for education 
our Legislatures, during the past quarter of a century, instead 
of strengthening and increasing facilities of existing institu- 
tions, have sought to establish too many new institutions, 
relying upon State aid. As I have heretofore said, "the State 
needs one University, but not two." It needs one or two 
Normal Colleges and not six or eight." 

With elementary schools properly maintained and super- 
vised, with our high schools in each county, with two normal 
colleges provided with sufficient appropriations to maintain 
a sufficient teaching force and equipment, with the State Uni- 
versity, the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and the Alabama 
Girls Industrial School, our educational system would be com- 
plete. Before Alabama then can make the greatest possible 



progress our entire educational system should be revised, 
harmonized and coordinated, so as to prevent unnecessary 
duplication and waste and secure the greatest possible economy 
and efficiency. Under the present system many of our normal 
schools only perform the functions of local high schools. In 
addition there are nine agricultural colleges, largely doing the 
work of high schools or local elementary schools. Can any 
one deny that one University, one normal college, and one 
technical school for each sex, adequately supported, could 
render incomparably better service to the State than a large 
number of such institutions insufficiently supported and at 
every session of the Legislature clamoring for aid. Dr. 
Denny clearly summed up the whole situation when he de- 
clared that "a prompt and clear recognition of the value of 
concentration of effort is essential, and that institutional parti- 
sanship, local pride and unreasoning sentimentality should be 
definitely subordinated." I seriously doubt, however, whether 
we can attain our ideal or secure that concentration of effort 
and resources, that complete harmony of all the different parts 
of our educational system, that prevention of duplication and 
waste, that subordination of institutional partisanship, local 
pride and unreasoning selfishness, without a complete revi- 
sion of our fundamental law. 

We recognize that the State cannot afford to subsidize rival 
schools in preparing teachers, rival schools in engineering, 
rival schools in technical education or agriculture, and yet the 
difficulty is to change present conditions. With our Legisla- 
ture, as it is now constituted, the local members generally 
consider the interests of his immediate county or senatorial 
district, as of paramount importance, and any effort to make 
these reforms, which we know are essential to our permanent 
educational progress, will meet the opposition of powerful and 
influential political interests. 

I believe, therefore, the first and most important step to 
improve educational conditions in Alabama would be the con- 
vening of a Constitutional Convention to revise our present 
antiquated fundamental law. The Constitution of 1875, which 



6 

was adopted when the State was just emerging from the 
shadows of reconstruction, was intended primarily to prevent 
the recurrence of conditions which had followed in the wake 
of civil war and the reconstruction era. Its chief purpose was 
to place constitutional inhibitions on legislative power, to re- 
duce expenditures and make impossible the renewal of that 
Saturnalia of misgovernment and extravagance which during 
the reconstruction era had brought the State to the verge of 
bankruptcy and governmental chaos. 

The Constitutional Convention of 1901 was called for the 
paramount purpose of reforming the suffrage and removing 
from our electorate the menace of an ignorant and purchas- 
able vote. Little consideration was given to other matters of 
reform, and hence the Constitution of 1875 which had beerl^ 
framed to meet conditions which can never again exist, was 
practically readopted. The wise solution of the suffrage ques- 
tion is a monument to the ability and foresight of the mem- 
bers of that historic body, but in many of the provisions that 
now exist the powers of the State are hampered, and no real 
or permanent progress is possible until it is revised and 
adapted to meet present conditions. lender the Constitution as 
it now exists, -the State is denied the right of engaging in 
internal improvements, of building a single mile of pike road 
or using its convicts for road improvement, or providing suf- 
ficient revenue to maintain its larger cities and towns. The 
State is denied the right practically to tax inheritances, a 
source of much revenue to about forty States in the Union. 
The present Constitution has checked our educational growth 
by denying the counties and school districts the right to sup- 
plement State aid by local taxation. Every student and au- 
thority on elementary education admits that no permanently 
successful system of elementary education can be maintained 
that relies entirely upon State aid and not upon local taxation, 
initiative and effort. One of the wisest provisions of the Con- 
stitution of 1868 was the establishment of a State Board of 
Education with legislative powers. We ignored this and 
every other wise provision found in the Constitution of 1868 



because partisan feeling was so intense that we were unable 
to recognize that any just or wise measure could be found in 
a constitution framed by men who were not the representa- 
tives of the dominant element of the State, and whose work 
had been repudiated by the people at the polls and adopted only 
by congressional legislation. Alabama is denied by the pres- 
ent Constitution the right to maintain a proper system of 
inspection of merchandise, of food-stuffs, or an adequate pure- 
food law by that provision found in the present Constitution 
which provides that no State office shall be continued or 
created for the inspection or measuring of any merchandise, 
manufacture or commodity. Prior to the Constitution of 
1875 the State had always exercised the power to inspect 
merchandise and to create an office for that purpose. The 
abuse of this power during the era of reconstruction lead to the 
incorporation in the present Constitution of this provision. It is 
true that our Supreme Court has held that the only limitation 
on the Legislature by this provision of the Constitution is that 
no State office shall be created, but it is utterly impossible to 
secure proper inspection of medicines and drugs, of our manu- 
factured commodities, fertilizers, food and drinks, etc., unless 
that inspection is placed in the hands of competent men with an 
adequate salary. The principal evils of the present Constitu- 
tion is found in the numerous restrictions, limitations and re- 
quirements as to Legislative acton. It is almost impossible 
for the Legislature, under the present Constitution, to enact 
any law which cannot be attacked in the courts as unconstitu- 
tional. Its chief defect, however, in my judgment, is that it 
denies the people of the State the right of self-government. 
The experiment of quadrennial meetings of the Legislature 
has been tried and has proven a failure. The reorganization of 
our Legislative system along simpler lines by which its member- 
ship could be largely reduced, adequate salaries paid, and ses- 
sions often enough and long enough to do the public business 
and prevent unnecessary haste, would be one of the most im- 
portant duties of a new Constitutional Convention. There is pro- 
found distrust of the Legislature as now constituted, but by re- 



8 

tlucing the membership, by paying adequate salaries, by provid- 
ing that a certain proportion shall be elected from the State at 
large, the character and tone of our Legislative body could 
be elevated, and that important department of government 
made more responsive to the well-defined and intelligent public 
opinion of the State. I am not inclined to believe that we can 
safely rely upon the Legislature to give us that educational 
and judicial reform which the imperative needs of the State 
demand. In our effort to decrease the number of Judges and 
Solicitors, to abolish unnecessary offices and improve our 
educational system we can only expect powerful and influen- 
tial opposition, opposition strong enough ordinarily to domi- 
nate the Legislative body. As much as I am opposed to 
incorporating in the fundamental law provisions which are 
legislative in their character, I am convinced that it is only 
through a Constitutional Convention can we get a complete, 
wise and satisfactory reformation of our judicial and educa- 
tional systems. 

Our entire system of taxation needs revision. All thoughtful 
students of taxation are united in the opinion that the Legis- 
lature in dealing with this subject should not be hampered by 
a constitutional provision which undertakes to enforce uni- 
formity in all classes of taxation. Under the Constitution of 
Alabama there must be uniformity of taxation, that is, every 
species of property must be taxed at the same rate, real and 
personal. Such constitutional provisions as to uniformity of 
taxation have become obsolete and a large number of States 
now permit their Legislatures to classify property for the pur- 
poses of taxation. It is the consensus of opinion of all taxing 
authorities, that no just, satisfactory or scientific taxing sys- 
tem can be established in any State, without removing the 
constitutional provision requiring a uniform rate of taxation. 
Professor Ely. a noted authority on this subject says, "A one 
uniform tax on all property in direct taxation never has 
worked well in any modern community or State in the civil- 
ized world, though it has been tried thousands of times, and 
although all the resources of able men have been employed to 



make it work well." In 142 U. S. page 351, Justice Brewer 
said, "A system that imposes the same tax upon every species 
of property, irrespective of its nature, condition, or class, 
will be destructive to the principles of uniformity and equality 
in taxation, and of a just adaptation of property to its bur- 
dens." The attempt to tax all property equally, at a uniform 
rate upon its value, and by assessments made by owners has 
broken down completely in the case of personal property and 
especially in the case of intangible personalty. A forcible il- 
lustration of the benefits which result from giving the Legis- 
lature power to classify property is found in the experience 
of the State of Minnesota. For more than fifty years Min- 
nesota had been operating under a general property tax prin- 
ciple of uniformity and equality regardless of the nature and 
use of the property. At no time had that State succeeded in 
getting more than a small fraction of personal or intangible 
personal property on the tax rolls. Realizing the failure of 
the old system, after more than half a century of unsuccessful 
efforts, the Legislature of that State in 1911 enacted a law 
providing for the separate listing of money and credits and 
imposing a flat tax rate of three mills on the dollar in lieu 
of all other taxes. In 1910, the year before the new law 
became operative, the assessed value of money and credits 
amounted to $13,919,800; in 1911, the first year under the 
new law, the amount returned for taxation on money and 
credits was $llo,fi76,12(i, an increase of seven hundred and 
thirty-one per cent, over the preceding year. In 1912 the 
assessments of money and credits rose to $135,034,476, being, 
according to the report of the Tax Commission of that State, 
an increase of sixteen and seven-tenths per cent, over 1911, 
and 870 per cent, over 1910. A strict and rigid rule of abso- 
lute uniformity wherever required by a Constitution should be 
so amended as to permit specific treatment of certain classes 
of property, with proper restrictions against unfair discrimi- 
nation. 

The State of Alabama has title to the bed of every naviga- 
ble stream in the State, yet it has no power to utilize, in the 



H) 

interest of the people, any of our enormous water-power by 
the acquisition of riparian rights on account of the provisions 
of the Constitution which forbids the State from engaging in 
any work of internal improvement. In New York the Con- 
servation Commission of that State has acquired for the use 
of the State riparian rights on navigable streams so as to 
conserve that great asset for the benefit of all the people of 
the State. The numerous inhibitions, restrictions and limita- 
tions found in the present Constitution constitute a bar to 
progress and shackles the legislative power in its effort to 
give Alabama legislation capable of meeting presetit condi- 
tions and removing present evils. The executive power is 
hampered in carrying out the mandate of the Constitution to 
see to it that the laws are faithfully executed by being denied 
the power to appoint or control subordinate executive agents. 
The sheriff" of a county is but a subordinate executive agent, 
and yet the Chief Executive has no power to remove him from 
office for inefficiency or neglect of duty. Another serious 
defect in our present Constitution in the effort to improve 
our taxing system is the fact that collectors and assessors are 
constitutional officers elected by the people, subject to local 
influences, not subject to removal by the Governor or the 
State Tax Commission. In all those States that have ap- 
proached nearest in establishing just, equitable and wise meth- 
ods of taxation and a uniformity of assessments the assessors 
have been under the control of the State Tax Commission or 
the Governor and subject to removal for inefficiency or neglect 
of duty. Under the present Constitution the Governor of the 
State enters upon the discharge of his duty after the Legisla- 
ture has convened. He is expected to at once submit a mes- 
sage giving to the Legislature "information of the state of 
the government and recommending for its consideration such 
measures as he may deem expedient" in obedience to the 
mandate of Section 123 of the Constitution. Yet it is rather 
difficult to understand how the Governor-elect could give the 
Legislature information of the state of the government when 
he is without power at the time his message is prepared to 



11 

demand from the different departments of the State detailed 
information as to the needs of the respective departments. 
IJefore he has had any opportunity of famiharizing himself 
with the actual condition of the different State departments 
or before he has acquired that practical knowledge which 
alone comes from experience of necessary reforms in matters 
of legislation, he is ushered into office with the Legislature 
in session, and expected at once to submit to the law-making 
body practically all the reforms in legisb.tion which can occur 
during his administration. The Governor should have at 
least six months' experience in office before he is expected 
to acquire that practical knowledge of State conditions so 
essential to secure just and wise legislation. Therefore, the 
present provision of the Constitution should be amended and 
the Legislature assembled only after the new Governor has 
had ample opportunity to give careful study to the wants of 
the State and an opportunity to prepare such legislation as 
may be necessary to secure a wise and progressive adminis- 
tration. With a new Constitution, either the annual or bi- 
ennial sessions of the Legislature should be restored and the 
members of the Legislature elected every two years. 

Another evil which will exist as long as our present system 
remains unchanged, is that our higher institutions of learning 
must continue to clamor at every Legislative meeting for ad- 
ditional app-opriations. The result is a system of log-rolling 
and lobbying, appeals to local prejudices or local interests 
which can but result in making the appropriations for the 
higher institutions of learning unequal, leading to uncertainty, 
jealousy, rivalry, confusion and demoralization of our entire 
educational system. The wiser course would be to appropriate 
to the Univc-sity, to the z\labama Polytechnic Institute and 
the Alabama Girls Industrial School and the Normal Schools 
a uniform proportion or percentage of the taxable income of 
the State. The result of this system would be that as the 
State grew in wealth and population the income or annuity of 
these institutions would annually increase. With a new Con- 
stitution removing the present restrictions on legislative 



12 

powers in the matter of classification of property for taxation 
there would be no increase in the rate of taxation but our 
revenues would be largely enhanced by reaching property 
which now entirely escapes. With a new Constitution a State 
Board of Education could be established and our entire edu- 
cational system harmonized and administered with greater 
economy and efficiency. Moreover it is evident that the reforms 
which the thoughtful students of our educational system rec- 
ognize as imperative can best be secured through the agency 
of a Constitutional Convention. 

If we are to make real progress in Alabama we must adopt 
the policy of concentration, strengthen and enlarge the neces- 
sary institutions of learning which the State requires and aban- 
don the unwise policy of making appropriations from the State 
Treasury for every new institution of learning which any 
locality in the State may deem necessary for its local interest. 
With these reforms, with the proper system of local taxation, 
unnecessary burdens upon the State Treasury can be removed 
and the State enabled to make appropriations for the mainte- 
nance and support of the State University and higher institu- 
tions of learning commensurate with their importance and the 
wealth, dignity and power of the commonwealth. 

In all the reforms to advance and elevate our educa- 
tional system the people of Alabama must look for lead- 
ership to this institution and the Polytechnic Institute. Mr. 
Rryce in his American Commonwealth says that "there 
was a time in the latter part of the last century when 
colleg:e professors were denounced by professional politi- 
cians as "unpractical, visionary, pharasitical, kid-gloved, high- 
toned, un-American," because the impulse toward the im- 
provement of political methods, civil service reform and tariflf 
refo';m was coming from the universities and was felt in tne 
increased political activity of the better educated youth of the 
land." He truthfully states that "the new generation, many 
of whom now receive a university education, have been in- 
spired with a more serious view of politics than had prevailed 
with the richer classes since the Civil War," that their horizon 
had been enlarged, their patriotism tempered by a sense of 



13 

national short-comings and quickened by a higher ideal of 
national well-being." 

Wisconsin is one of the most progressive States in the 
Union. In the solution of all modern problems, in the regu- 
lation of railroads and public service utilities, in her taxing 
laws, her system of University extension, her State Tax Com- 
mission, her employers liability statutes and other progres- 
sive measures, her laws are recognized as models of their 
kind. Yet, in the preparation of all these wise and progres- 
sive laws, seeking to secure greater social justice, her university 
professors and graduates have exercised powerful influences, 
both in the creation of public sentiment and in the actual preji- 
aration of the bills. No State possesing her resources has 
been more prosperous, and this prosperity and these reforms 
are due more to the influence of her great university than to 
any other agency. I would have the University of Alabama 
exercise a similar beneficial influence in elevating public 
thought and inspiring higher civic ideals, in aiding in the wise 
solution of the taxing problems and other serious questions 
that afl^ect our future. I do not mean that I would have the 
University enter politics or as an organization seek to con- 
trol nominations or to become the partisan advocate of any 
candidate for office. Such a course would be as indefensible 
as it would be foolish and would justly provoke a storm of 
opposition which would jeopardize its future. The influence 
that I would advocate is that silent but powerful influence 
which every great institution of this kind, with its body of 
trained experts on governmental and economic questions, with 
its educated alumni, can and should exercise in the formation 
of that public opinion which alone guarantees wiser and more 
efficient government. 

Our universities are open to every young man of energy 
and ambition. Notwithstanding our marvelous industrial 
growth and prosperity it is foolish to expect that all other 
prosperity will follow material prosperity. From all these 
great seats of learning in the republic there are annually being 
poured forth a large body of educated young men upon whom 



14 

wc must rely for a juster view and solution of the seriou.s 
problems of democratic government. The chief dangers that 
menace the future come from ignorance and these dangers 
alone can be dispelled by the army of educated youth who 
annually join the ranks of our citizenship. Ours is a gov- 
ernment controlled by opinion and it has been truly said that 
the politicians do not lead but public opinion leads them. 

This great university with its corps of trained experts, con- 
stantly studying the great problems of the day and its increas- 
ing alumni, at present constitute the most potent factors for 
progress in the formation of sound and just opinion. There 
is and there can be but one L'niversity in Alabama. With ade- 
quate appropriations, with an enlargement of its teaching 
force and equipment to meet present conditions and by a sys- 
tem of extension work to carry its blessings to almost every 
home and farm in the State, there is no agency which can do 
more for our progress and development. It deserves and 
should receive the earnest and cordial support and co-operation 
of every intelligent and patriotic citizen, and from its halls, 
the day is not far distant when copious streams of learning 
will pour, to fructify and enrich every part of the common- 
wealth, and make it an institution of which every Alabamian 
can be justly proud. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



019 886 948 A 



